BOOK REVIEW

By Katherine Arends / Special to the Times-News

Published: Sunday, March 10, 2013 at 03:03 AM.

Oscar season has come and gone again, and if you are like me, it’s time to catch up on all the movies you missed during the year. The documentary film is one of my favorite genres and the Alamance County Public Libraries have many to offer, including most of the Academy Award nominees. Below are three of the nominees available for check out from the library. • Academy Award winner “Searching for Sugar Man” tells the story of Sixto Rodriguez, a Detroit folk musician who recorded two albums in the early 1970s. Despite critical praise and being hailed as the next Bob Dylan, album sales were unimpressive and he spent the next three decades living an unassuming life as a laborer and community activist. Though his music never made an impact here in the U.S., the same cannot be said about South Africa where he became a folk hero and one of the nation’s most popular musical artists. Rodriguez’s lyrics of inequality hit a chord with a nation fighting Apartheid, and his albums sold well there, but Rodriguez was oblivious to his popularity in South Africa and never received any royalties. Little was known about him by his fans, so it seems they filled in the gaps by generating outlandish rumors, including that he was in prison for murder and that he committed suicide on stage by setting himself on fire. The documentary tries to convey the adoration South Africans have for Rodriguez and follows the quest of two of his fans as they attempt to find any information they can about the fate of the musician. It all makes for an interesting story, and it’s a joy to discover the music of Rodriguez, but the viewer is left wondering how and why he never saw any of the millions of dollars from his album sales. This detail only appears important to us and not to the humble Rodriguez himself. • “How to Survive a Plague” documents the role of activist group ACT UP in the late 1980s and early ’90s in the fight to quickly find an effective treatment for AIDS. As those in the gay community were dying by the thousands while government did little to stem the tide of death, or to even find and promote truthful information about HIV/AIDS, ACT UP and its splinter faction, Treatment Action Group (TAG), enlisted the help of media experts and scientists to come up with their own battle plan and treatment options. As a result, treatment of AIDS went from relying on one virtually ineffective drug, AZT, to a combination of drugs that greatly decreased AIDS-related deaths and made it possible for many to live a relatively normal life with HIV. The film is predominately footage of meetings, demonstrations and interviews shot during the 1980s and ’90s, but there are moments where the viewer glimpses more personal moments in the lives of the activists and AIDS victims. The eloquence of some of the ACT UP members is amazing. One of the most moving moments takes place during a time of disagreement between ACT UP and TAG and the meetings frequently turned into shouting matches. One of the leaders stands at the front waiting to speak but is unable because of one especially disruptive member. He hits his breaking point and silences the room by screaming “We are in a plague!” and then goes on to deliver a plea for cooperation that is remarkable in its spontaneity and passion. There is a lot of sadness in this film, but ACT UP’s goal is ultimately achieved: to find a treatment that at least gives HIV/AIDS victims a fighting chance. • “5 Broken Cameras” is a documentary filmed and narrated by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat that chronicles the building of a wall to separate new Israeli settlements from his and other small West Bank villages. Burnat purchased a camera in 2005 to record the birth of his son but soon turned the lens towards his family and neighbors as they try to stage nonviolent protests against the barrier and the Israeli settlers’ incursion into their ancestral olive groves. During the course of the documentary, Burnat replaces camera after camera as they are broken during encounters with Israeli soldiers. This is definitely a one-sided view of the conflict between Palestinians and Jewish settlers, but witnessing Israeli soldiers shooting a handcuffed man point blank in the leg and seeing the villagers’ olive trees burned in retaliation for their protests, it is hard not to choose sides.

Katherine Arends is library manager at Mebane Public Library. Visit alamancelibraries.org or contact her at (919) 563-6431.

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Oscar season has come and gone again, and if you are like me, it’s time to catch up on all the movies you missed during the year. The documentary film is one of my favorite genres and the Alamance County Public Libraries have many to offer, including most of the Academy Award nominees. Below are three of the nominees available for check out from the library.
• Academy Award winner “Searching for Sugar Man” tells the story of Sixto Rodriguez, a Detroit folk musician who recorded two albums in the early 1970s. Despite critical praise and being hailed as the next Bob Dylan, album sales were unimpressive and he spent the next three decades living an unassuming life as a laborer and community activist.
Though his music never made an impact here in the U.S., the same cannot be said about South Africa where he became a folk hero and one of the nation’s most popular musical artists. Rodriguez’s lyrics of inequality hit a chord with a nation fighting Apartheid, and his albums sold well there, but Rodriguez was oblivious to his popularity in South Africa and never received any royalties.
Little was known about him by his fans, so it seems they filled in the gaps by generating outlandish rumors, including that he was in prison for murder and that he committed suicide on stage by setting himself on fire. The documentary tries to convey the adoration South Africans have for Rodriguez and follows the quest of two of his fans as they attempt to find any information they can about the fate of the musician.
It all makes for an interesting story, and it’s a joy to discover the music of Rodriguez, but the viewer is left wondering how and why he never saw any of the millions of dollars from his album sales. This detail only appears important to us and not to the humble Rodriguez himself.
• “How to Survive a Plague” documents the role of activist group ACT UP in the late 1980s and early ’90s in the fight to quickly find an effective treatment for AIDS.
As those in the gay community were dying by the thousands while government did little to stem the tide of death, or to even find and promote truthful information about HIV/AIDS, ACT UP and its splinter faction, Treatment Action Group (TAG), enlisted the help of media experts and scientists to come up with their own battle plan and treatment options.
As a result, treatment of AIDS went from relying on one virtually ineffective drug, AZT, to a combination of drugs that greatly decreased AIDS-related deaths and made it possible for many to live a relatively normal life with HIV.
The film is predominately footage of meetings, demonstrations and interviews shot during the 1980s and ’90s, but there are moments where the viewer glimpses more personal moments in the lives of the activists and AIDS victims. The eloquence of some of the ACT UP members is amazing.
One of the most moving moments takes place during a time of disagreement between ACT UP and TAG and the meetings frequently turned into shouting matches. One of the leaders stands at the front waiting to speak but is unable because of one especially disruptive member. He hits his breaking point and silences the room by screaming “We are in a plague!” and then goes on to deliver a plea for cooperation that is remarkable in its spontaneity and passion.
There is a lot of sadness in this film, but ACT UP’s goal is ultimately achieved: to find a treatment that at least gives HIV/AIDS victims a fighting chance.
• “5 Broken Cameras” is a documentary filmed and narrated by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat that chronicles the building of a wall to separate new Israeli settlements from his and other small West Bank villages.
Burnat purchased a camera in 2005 to record the birth of his son but soon turned the lens towards his family and neighbors as they try to stage nonviolent protests against the barrier and the Israeli settlers’ incursion into their ancestral olive groves.
During the course of the documentary, Burnat replaces camera after camera as they are broken during encounters with Israeli soldiers.
This is definitely a one-sided view of the conflict between Palestinians and Jewish settlers, but witnessing Israeli soldiers shooting a handcuffed man point blank in the leg and seeing the villagers’ olive trees burned in retaliation for their protests, it is hard not to choose sides.

Katherine Arends is library manager at Mebane Public Library. Visit alamancelibraries.org or contact her at (919) 563-6431.